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HONESDALE - A district magistrate ruled Wednesday there was sufficient evidence to send a New York man to trial for fatally shooting his wife with a shotgun at their Wayne County vacation home in 2010.

Magisterial District Judge Ted Mikulak made the ruling against Robert Jufer, 71, following nearly four hours of testimony at Mr. Jufer's preliminary hearing.

Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards called six witnesses to present her case: that Mr. Jufer staged the killing of his 68-year-old wife to make it appear as though someone else was responsible and to highlight how he undermined that by making a series of inconsistent statements to the troopers in the aftermath of her death.

His attorney, William Peters, countered that her entire case is based upon "interpretations" and that there is no forensic evidence tying Mr. Jufer to the murder.

State police charged Mr. Jufer of Hastings-on-Hudson with criminal homicide in February, nearly three years after troopers found his wife shot once in the back of her head in the bedroom of their Cherry Ridge Twp. home on Oct. 17, 2010.

Mr. Jufer sat stoically throughout the proceeding. He is being held at the Wayne County Correctional Facility.

Ms. Edwards' first witness, Mr. Jufer's neighbor Richard Meszler, said he saw Mr. Jufer pull up to his 238 White Mills Road home in a Jeep at about 8:30 a.m. on the day state police said Mrs. Jufer was killed.

Mr. Jufer then got out his Jeep and went inside, Mr. Meszler testified. Less than an hour later, he heard what he described as a "regular knock" on his door.

Mr. Jufer had blood running down his face, Mr. Meszler testified.

Mr. Jufer calmly told him that someone attacked him inside his home, that his wife was still sleeping, and that he needed to use a phone to call 911 because his phone was not working, Mr. Meszler testified. Mr. Jufer told him a person he did not see put "something" over his head, Mr. Meszler testified.

Ms. Edwards asked him whether Mr. Jufer appeared to be upset or worried and Mr. Meszler said no.

"Bob says he doesn't show emotion," he said. "He told me that ... he's just the same all the time."

Trooper Paul Semler, who took the 911 call and testified Wednesday, said Mr. Jufer told him he was attacked from behind by an unknown assailant. The assailant put a bag over his head and strangled him while his wife was still in the home, Trooper Semler testified.

When Trooper Semler pulled up to the home, he went inside and searched for the attackers, he testified. He did not find anyone in the home, except Mrs. Jufer.

Another trooper, James Hitchcock, testified he found no fingerprints on a shotgun, which investigators identified as belonging to Mr. Jufer, on the floor of her bedroom.

Investigators also spotted drips of blood on the kitchen floor and blood smeared on a wooden dowel in the kitchen, that later testing determined was Mr. Jufer's blood, Trooper Hitchcock testified.

Mr. Jufer never said he was hit with an object, Trooper Hitchcock testified.

As investigators began interviewing him more, they said he began altering how he was attacked.

In a written statement, Mr. Jufer wrote that the assailant placed something around his neck, yet he made no mention of a bag being placed over his head, Trooper John Decker testified.

In a subsequent interview, he said a cord was wrapped around his neck, then said it was a particular type of green cord, then said it was a piece of rope, Trooper Decker testified.

Investigators found a piece of rope similar to what Mr. Jufer described in the kitchen that matched a spool of rope in his basement, which they contend is one element of his scheme to stage the crime.

They found no visible injuries on his neck, according to court testimony.

Investigators also determined that Mr. Jufer's phone and phone line were not out of service that day, Trooper Decker testified.

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